ABSTRACT
Since Colin Holmes published 'The Chinese Connection', the subject of the Chinese in Britain has come so far in terms of scholarship and general attention that as of September 2016 it has been included as a component of the national GCSE history syllabus. Back in the early 1990s, that essay was pretty much the standalone work on the subject and it remains a foundational source for the wide range of studies. In June 1907, the Council Proceedings of the Committee investigating Liverpool's Chinese, set up to investigate allegations of opium smoking and illicit liaisons with underage English girls, failed to find much justification for these charges. Devi May observes that 'uncertainty about the origin and nature of any opposition to the Chinese was reflected in the general nature of the questions asked about them and the speculative and diverse nature of the conclusions offered'.
